the departed
by mildlyholmes
Summary: she stops breathing, he stops living. that's what they decided. /in which Damon loses what matters most. WARNING: Character death.


**She stops breathing, he stops living. **

That's what they decided. Or, what he decided. He can never live without her.

He thought he'd have years, decades even. She never considered turning but she was only eighteen – she could change her mind.

_(But she never will, stupid.)_

It's celebration night; Klaus is dead. He would never be able to torment them, to torture them, to kill them slowly. He revels in the fact, and so does Stefan, and Caroline, and Alaric.

So does she.

But there's a difference that he thinks he will be forever grateful to Klaus for ruining his brother _(temporarily – he's all right now!) _because there's a _reallybigdifference_.

She chose him.

She hugs him, she kisses him, she runs to him.

_She loves him._

And he's ecstatic, so happy, because isn't this what he's been wanting for so long? He can finally love her, hopefully forever!

_(Fate isn't so forgiving.)_

It's late and they're all outside, all drinking and laughing and just so _free _for the first time in a year. He loses himself with all of the teenage glory he once possessed so long ago, channeling his inner young self.

It happens quickly. One second, she's fine; she's laughing, kissing him, whispering sweet words of affection. Another moment, there's a bang.

The rage overpowers him first. Rage at the heartless creature that killed her, rage at everyone for not noticing, rage at _himself _for not noticing. It was clever, too clever – because even a vampire wasn't quick enough to stop a speeding bullet.

Not tonight, anyway.

_She's not breathing._

And he hates himself for it.

She's dead within the second. There's no pitiful cry, no surprised gasp. No time for her loved ones to even comfort her before she passes on. And she won't come back, he just knows she won't. There's no vampire blood in her system.

They never find her killer – he's too quick. A vampire. They don't even find out why he decided to kill her because a full moon comes up and nobody else wants to die. Except him. They drag him back with their combined strength to keep him from going.

They bury her next to her parents and aunt and John, her resting spot – no, not grave, _never _grave – decorated with flowers and hearts and magic and love. Because there were so many people who loved her.

_But he loved her the most. He refuses to believe that everyone else grieves for her too._

They all seem to be having a competition; which one will stay by her side the longest. One by one, they all lose.

Jeremy leaves first. He walks away, throwing his ring aside, scorning everyone he crosses paths with. Tyler goes next when Caroline doesn't budge, and Matt goes with him. Alaric leaves next, probably to drown in his sorrows. Caroline and Bonnie go together hours later, weeping in each other's arms. Then there's only Stefan and him, the best friends, the eternal Salvatore brothers.

They don't even acknowledge each other.

They stay by her side the whole night, looming over her buried body. But Stefan can't take it anymore and leaves, probably packing a bag at the moment itself. And there's just him.

When he goes hungry, he doesn't care. He wants to die, he deserves to die. She was sweet, innocent, loving, kind. But _young_, so incredibly _young. _She'd hardly lived at all while he roamed the planet for over a century. It was tragic.

**She stops breathing, he stops living.** And he does.

Because what he's about to do – it's not living. It doesn't _deserve _to be called living. It was merely surviving in the remnants of a broken heart.

He turns it off.

**a/n: I have no idea where this came from, but it turned out well all the same. I'm supposed to be doing Chem but this popped up. **

**No bloodline connections this time – Klaus died, and that's that. Nobody else died when he did.**

**Just if you're curious – Klaus had a lot of enemies, but he had people who worshipped him, too. Think of it as when Voldemort 'died' and Bellatrix never gave up on believing in him, in her own, twisted way. So – Elena, being the doppelganger, was killed by a vampire who was mad that Klaus was dead.**

**If you can't stand character deaths, review.**

**If you are like me, and are an angsty person, review.**

**Basically, just review.**


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